24 Free File Recovery tools

 

Your hard drive or hard disk crashed, what do you do now? Send it to a specialist shop and it is going to cost you a bomb to retrieve, save, recover and extract all your data, or forget about it? Have you ever wondered how the computer expert was able to extract the lost data and files? They use specialized software, while these freeware have the basics covered, it is still no match to those professional grade data recovery software. If you are seeking professional help, Seagate Rosewood and Western Digital both have their own professional data recovery service. Check out their official website for more information.

• For those with Seagate Hard Disk
• For those with Western Digital Hard Disk (Global, including India)
• For those with Toshiba Hard Disk (Europe)

↓ 01 – Windows File Recovery | Free | Windows

Accidentally deleted an important file? Wiped clean your hard drive? Unsure of what to do with corrupted data? Windows File Recovery can help recover your personal data. For photos, documents, videos and more, Windows File Recovery supports many file types to help ensure that your data is not permanently lost.

Recovering from a camera or SD card? Try Signature mode, which expands beyond NTFS recovery and caters to your storage device needs. Let this app be your first choice for helping to find what you need from your hard drive, SSD (*limited by TRIM), USB drive, or memory cards.

• Target file names, keywords, file paths, or extensions in your recovery
• Recovers JPEG, PDF, PNG, MPEG, Office files, MP3 & MP4, ZIP files and more
• Recover from HDD, SSD, USB, and memory cards
• Supports NTFS, FAT, exFAT and ReFS file systems

↓ 02 – TestDisk [ Partition Recovery ] | Open Source | Windows | macOS | Linux

TestDisk is powerful free data recovery software! It was primarily designed to help recover lost partitions and/or make non-booting disks bootable again when these symptoms are caused by faulty software: certain types of viruses or human error (such as accidentally deleting a Partition Table). Partition table recovery using TestDisk is really easy. TestDisk can:

• Fix partition table, recover deleted partition
• Recover FAT32 boot sector from its backup
• Rebuild FAT12/FAT16/FAT32 boot sector
• Fix FAT tables
• Rebuild NTFS boot sector
• Recover NTFS boot sector from its backup
• Fix MFT using MFT mirror
• Locate ext2/ext3/ext4 Backup SuperBlock
• Undelete files from FAT, exFAT, NTFS and ext2 filesystem
• Copy files from deleted FAT, exFAT, NTFS and ext2/ext3/ext4 partitions.

↓ 03 – Disk Drill Basic | Free / Paid | macOS

Do you need to recover deleted files in macOS, such as critical business documents, music, photos or videos? Have files or whole partitions gone missing from your Mac? Are you having trouble accessing an external USB drive or camera card? We can help. We make data recovery for macOS easy. Disk Drill makes data recovery in macOS super easy. With just one click of a button, it will run through all of its scanning functions and display a list of files that can be potentially recovered.

You can even preview these files so that you can determine which ones can be successfully recovered. If you have Disk Drill’s data protection features enabled, some methods of file recovery on your Mac are free! If not, a quick upgrade will enable you to recover your files and get back to work. Deep Scan method can be used in any situation and is able to recognize and recover over 80 different file types.

The Basic version is free. It gives you all the functions of data protection and scanning, so that you can see which files can be found and preview them to verify that they are recoverable. But you must upgrade your license to actually recover any files found

• Photo files like JPG, PNG and TIFF
• Graphic files like AI, PSD and INDD
• RAW camera files like CR2, NEF and DNG
• Video files like AVI, DV and MP4
• Music files like AIF, MP3 and WAV
• Recover corrupted Jpeg photo from Android smartphone’s microSD card
• Document files like DOCX, PPTX and XLSX

↓ 04 – EaseUS Data Recovery Free | Free / Paid | Windows | macOS

Free file recovery software can help users to recover lost/deleted files from Windows and Mac-based hard drives, external hard drives, digital cameras, MP3/MP4 players, and other devices. With the intuitive interface and the 3-step process “Scan – Preview – Recovery”, it easily retrieves photos, videos, music and other files lost by accidental deleting, formatting, virus infection, or improper operation. EaseUS Data Recovery Free for Mac allows users to freely recover 2GB of data.

• You can recover 2GB Data
• Recovers many types of files, including images, videos, documents, email, archive, etc.
• Supports the recovery of data from multiple storage devices like external drives, USB drives, SD cards, memory cards, and others.
• Supports macOS 10.10 (Yosemite), 10.9 (Mavericks), 10.8 (Mountain Lion), 10.7 (Lion), 10.6 (Snow Leopard).

↓ 05 – MiniTool Power Data Recovery Free | Free / Paid | Windows | macOS

Best data recovery program for home users to recover data from different data loss crisis. MiniTool Mac Data Recovery Personal License can recover photos, music, videos, emails, documents, and other types of data from Windows or Mac computer or other storage devices. This data recovery software is fast, safe and easy to use. It has a data preview effect, so Mac users can enjoy the charm of data recovery in advance. Four powerful recovery functional modules:

• Undelete Recovery: helps Mac users quickly recover data lost due to accidental deletion from storage devices.
• Damaged Partition Recovery: recovers lost data from existing partitions, such as damaged partition, formatted partition and the partition with a RAW file system or the partition which is notified by Mac: “Do you want to format it?”.
• Lost Partition Recovery: recovers lost data from lost or deleted partition.
• Digital Media Recovery: recovers photos, audios, videos and other multimedia files from portable storage devices, such as memory card, memory stick and USB flash drive.

↓ 06 – UndeleteMyFiles Pro | Free | Windows | macOS

UndeleteMyFiles Pro is a free professional tool to recover accidentally deleted files from hard disks, USB flash drives, CF and SD cards and other storage media. UndeleteMyFiles is a quick and easy way to find and recover deleted media and digital devices.It employs a simplified two-step process that enables you to recover any files that used to reside on your system.

• File Rescue Wizard – a quick and easy way to find and recover deleted files.
• Media Recover – Recover media files in a couple of easy steps.
• Deleted File Search – Specialized filters that allow you to find specific deleted information.
• Files Wiper – Allows you to delete any files permanently without any chances of recovery.
• Mail Rescue – Mail Recovery Wizard.

↓ 07 – Lazesoft Recovery Suite Home Edition | Free | Windows

With a series of easy-to-use utilities on Lazesoft Recovery Suite Home Edition Recovery CD, you can recover your data even if file deleted, partition formatted, you can repair your Windows even if Windows crashed, you can reset your windows login password even if you forgot it. With Lazesoft Recovery Suite Home Edition, just three steps to recover your data, repair Windows system or reset Windows password. It is easy as 1, 2, 3.

• Lazesoft Windows Recovery – Windows System Recovery, Fix Windows boot problems
• Lazesoft Data Recovery – recover data from deleted, formatted, damaged disk/drive/partition
• Lazesoft Recover My Password – Windows Password Recovery
• Lazesoft Disk Image & Clone – Disk Backup, Clone and Partition Manager

↓ 08 – FreeUndelete | Free / Paid | Windows | macOS

FreeUndelete restores deleted files, including those removed from Windows Recycle Bin. In case of accidental removal of files on a NTFS (1.0 and 2.0) (default for Windows Vista, XP, 2000 and NT), FAT32, FAT16 or FAT12 file systems this is the utility to help. Supported file systems include NTFS 1.0, NTFS 2.0, FAT12, FAT16 and FAT32. The recovered files are saved into a new user-selected location to prevent overwriting the deleted files on the original media.

↓ 09 – Wise Data Recovery | Free | Windows

Wise Data Recovery is a free data recovery program to get back deleted photos, documents, videos, emails etc. from your local or removable drives for free. Wise Data Recovery is a free data recovery software to solve your data loss problems Whether you deleted some files by accident, formatted a drive or encountered a system crash and lost some files, It can get back lost files from hard drive, external hard drive, USB drive, Memory card, digital camera, mobile phone, MP3 player and other storage media.

Wise Data Recovery supports recovery data from FAT (FAT12, FAT16, FAT32), exFAT and NTFS disk. With advanced algorithms, Wise Data Recovery is able to finish the scanning process in seconds, saving you a lot of time. You can also choose your recovery file types or type in keywords before scanning to narrow down searching results and save more time.

↓ 10 – Eassos Recovery Free | Free | Windows

Free Data Recovery Software, easily recovery deleted, formatted, or lost data. Eassos Recovery Free is capable and free recovery software, which can easily and quickly get back deleted, formatted or lost data from hard disks, USB drives, memory cards and other storage devices. Multiple recovery modes help precisely perform file recovery & partition recovery with high recovery rate.

• Retrieve deleted or lost files from hard drive and removable devices.
• Recover formatted, RAW, corrupted, damaged and lost partitions.

↓ 11 – Undelete 360 | Free | Windows

Restore files accidentally deleted from your Computer, Recycle Bin, digital camera, flash drive. Undelete 360 is one of the best programs to use for restoring accidentally or unintentionally deleted files from your computer, regardless of storage medium. Using Undelete 360, you can restore files from SSD Hard drives, Digital cameras, Floppy drives or USB flash drives.

Built on a very fast and efficient algorithm, the program will browse, search, and recover files that have been deleted as a result of an accident, a virus, or software and computer failures. Undelete 360 can recover files deleted from computer hard drives, USB/thumb drives and memory sticks, the memory cards used in cameras, smart phones, and other devices, pen drives, and more. The program supports both file recovery and folder recovery.

• Accidentally deleted from your PC or other media
• Deleted by viruses
• Too large to fit in the recycle bin
• Deleted on Windows network shares
• Deleted from a USB Memory Stick
• Deleted when you press “Shift+Delete” keys
• Erased when the Move or Cut command has been used
• Created and deleted by certain applications
• Deleted from the command line

↓ 12 – Stellar Data Recovery | Free / Paid | Windows | macOS

Try out the Stellar Data Recovery Free software to recover lost or deleted documents, email data files, videos, photos, and audio files. The software recovers data from all types of storage devices including hard drives, pen drives, memory cards, etc. Retrieves lost photos, videos, documents, emails, compressed folders, audios, and several hundred other file formats from any Windows PC or Laptop. The free recovery software can recover deleted files and data from a formatted or severely corrupt drive in 3-easy steps.

• Permanent Data Deletion – Recovers data lost due to accidental deletion or emptying the Recycle Bin.
• Missing or Lost Partition – Recovers data from missing and deleted partitions—lost due to drive corruption or accidental deletion.
• Hard Drive Corruption – Recovers data lost from corrupt and RAW drives due to reasons like improper use, power failure, malware attack, etc.
• Virus Attack Recovery – Recovers lost, deleted, and hidden data from malware or virus-infected storage media and Windows systems in 3-simple steps
• OS Crash Recovery – Recovers data from the unbootable system and corrupt drives after Windows crash and Blue Screen of death (BSOD)
• RAW Partition Recovery – Recovers data lost from corrupt hard drive partitions that turn RAW due to virus and malware attacks, unsafe drive removal, and system crash

↓ 13 – SoftPerfect File Recovery | Free | Windows

SoftPerfect File Recovery is a free and useful tool for restoring files and rescuing data that was accidentally deleted from hard disks, floppy disks, USB flash drives, CF and SD cards and other storage media. It supports the popular file systems such as FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS and NTFS5 with compression and encryption. If some important files disappeared and you can’t find them in the recycle bin, don’t panic yet. Try SoftPerfect File Recovery software and see if you can bring the lost files back to life. It is very easy to use, and no installation is required.

• Lightweight and free.
• Works with FAT and NTFS.
• Supports compressed and encrypted volumes.
• Recognizes most storage media.
• Runs on anything from Windows XP through Windows 10.
• Portable software, no installation required.

↓ 14 – Glary Undelete | Free | Windows

Glary Undelete is a free and easy-to-use yet powerful file undelete solution for FAT and NTFS file systems. It will bring back files emptied from the Recycle Bin, in a DOS window, from Windows Explorer with the SHIFT key held down. It will even recover files that have been deleted by bugs, crashes and viruses!

Glary Undelete supports multiple file systems ie NTFS + EFS, FAT , NTFS . Moreover, it is able to recover files that the user has compressed or fragmented or even encrypted on NTFS file system.

• Supports FAT, NTFS, NTFS + EFS file systems.
• Supports recover compressed, fragmented and encrypted files on NTFS.
• Undelete files on removable devices.
• Filter by file name, file date, size, recovery state.
• Supports analyzes recovery possibilities.

↓ 15 – Softtote Free Data Recovery | Free | macOS

With Softtote Mac Data Recovery Freeware you can recover the common bmp, jpg, png, tif, mp3 files from Mac-based internal/external hard drive and perform data recovery like undeleting accidentally deleted files from HFS+, FAT, NTFS, and ext2 file systems.

Unlike other free data recovery software, there is no size limitation for recovering such as only 1GB of data can be recovered, which means users can recover the lost data back no matter how large it is. What’s more, it also possesses the ability to preview found files and enables users to select target files to recover.

↓ 16 – DMDE Free | Free / Paid | Windows | macOS | Linux

DMDE is a powerful software for data searching, editing, and recovery on disks. It may recover directory structure and files in some complicated cases through the use of special algorithms when other software can’t help. The software is listed, reviewed, and awarded in magazines and catalogs.

DMDE has a number of freeware features such as disk editor, simple partition manager (e.g. allows partition undeleting), a tool to create disk images and clones, RAID constructor, file recovery from the current panel. Paid editions support file and directory recovery without the restriction, DMDE Professional Edition has additional features to recover data for clients.

↓ 17 – DiskDigger | Free / Paid | Windows | Linux (100% Free)

DiskDigger is a tool that undeletes and recovers lost files from your hard drive, memory cards, USB flash drives — you name it! Whether you accidentally deleted some documents or photos from your computer, reformatted your camera’s memory card, or want to see what files are lurking on an old USB drive, DiskDigger is here for you.

When using it in Windows, DiskDigger is free for downloading, scanning your disk, and previewing any recoverable files. However, when saving the recoverable files, the program strongly encourages you to purchase a personal license. To use the program for commercial purposes, you must purchase a commercial license. (When using DiskDigger in Linux, it’s completely free.)

• “Dig Deep” mode has been enhanced with an option to show either “Deleted files only” (which was the previous default behavior) or “Deleted and existing files.” This is useful when the disk is improperly formatted or partitioned (or if the partition area is damaged), but the file system itself is still healthy. When you insert the disk and Windows shows an error such as “You need to format the disk before you can use it,” it’s an indication of this kind of issue. DiskDigger will now let you recover all the files from such a disk, whether or not they were actually deleted within the file system.
• In “Dig Deep” mode, there is now improved support for scanning certain file systems that are not native to Windows, including HFS+ (used in macOS disks) and ext4 (used in Linux).
• Enhanced support for scanning optical disks (CDs and DVDs) and the file systems that they contain, including ISO 9660 and UDF. There is also improved support for scanning damaged or improperly-burned disks: When selecting the drive to scan, you can go to the Advanced tab and check the “Detect disk size manually” box, which will make DiskDigger ignore the size of the disk as reported by the driver, and instead read the disk explicitly until it can no longer be read.

18 – iCare Data Recovery | Free / Paid | Windows | macOS

iCare Data Recovery Free – 100% freeware. Recovering deleted data from various kinds of digital devices in just a few seconds. iCare Data Recovery Free can recover permanently deleted/erased files from Windows 10/8/7/Vista/XP. It can recover most often used files like word/documents, emails, videos, even audio files from PC hard drive or external usb disk, memory card/usb drive, etc.

Recover files after format/virus attack/ inaccessible digital device; Raw file system or drive shows 0 bytes; chkdsk reports raw drive; Disk/drive/card reports not formatted; Deep Scan Recovery – scans every possible file on each block on digital devices; Deleted/Lost Partition Recovery.

↓ 19 – Kickass Undelete | Free | Windows

Kickass Undelete is a free, fully featured, file recovery tool for Windows. Accidentally deleted a file? Never fear; the data is probably still on your drive and may be recoverable. Kickass Undelete finds all of the deleted files on your hard drive, flash drive or SD card and allows you to recover them.

↓ 20 – Active@ File Recovery Free | Free / Paid | Windows

Active@ File Recovery for Windows provides the ability to effectively detect and recover files and disks lost due to accidental deletion, disk formatting, virus and other reasons. The Professional package also includes integrated Active@ Disk Editor (or Hex Viewer – a utility for low-level data inspection), Virtual RAID re-constructor, being able to recover damaged RAID disk arrays, and File Organizer needed to re-organize and rename files detected by their signatures.

• Recovers from damaged Microsoft FAT/exFAT/NTFS/ReFS, Apple HFS+, Unix UFS, Linux Ext2/Ext3/Ext4/BtrFS/XFS/JFS file systems
• Supports HDD / IDE / SATA / eSATA / SCSI / SSD disks / RAID disk arrays, USB Flash Disks and Memory Cards, External USB drives and USB3 disks
• Recovers extra-large, compressed, encrypted and fragmented files on NTFS, just deleted files can be recovered based on NTFS Journal ($LogFile)
• Creates and Recovers from Raw (sector-by-sector copy), Raw-Compressed images and disk images created by third parties

↓ 21 – PhotoRec | Open Source | Windows | macOS | Linux

PhotoRec is file data recovery software designed to recover lost files including video, documents and archives from hard disks, CD-ROMs, and lost pictures (thus the Photo Recovery name) from digital camera memory. PhotoRec ignores the file system and goes after the underlying data, so it will still work even if your media’s file system has been severely damaged or reformatted.

For more safety, PhotoRec uses read-only access to handle the drive or memory card you are about to recover lost data from. Important: As soon as a picture or file is accidentally deleted, or you discover any missing, do NOT save any more pictures or files to that memory device or hard disk drive; otherwise you may overwrite your lost data. This means that while using PhotoRec, you must not choose to write the recovered files to the same partition they were stored on.

↓ 22 – Puran File Recovery | Free | Windows

Puran File Recovery can be used to recover deleted/lost files/partitions. Files can be recovered from formatted disks too. Almost everything that is detected as a drive by Windows can be scanned irrespective of its file system. Be it Hard Disks, Pen Drives, Memory Cards, Mobile Phones, CDs, DVDs, basically any storage medium.

• A very simple interface with an extremely powerful recovery engine. A perfect combination of speed, accuracy and simplicity.
• A Quick Scan that lists deleted files in a click and a few seconds. It supports FAT12/16/32 and NTFS.
• A Deep Scan that can intelligently scan a drive byte by byte resulting in high speed listing of many more deleted and lost files.
• A Full Scan that can detect deleted/lost partitions and even recover files from formatted drives. RAW and Physical drives can also be scanned.
• Deep/Full Scan not just look for lost file records but also detect different format files based on data patterns.
• More than 50 formats/data patterns list expandable to hundreds of formats is included. Hence almost everything can be recovered.

↓ 23 – Exif Untrasher | Free | macOS

Exif Untrasher is a Photo recovery software that will try to locate photos in JPEG format on any kind of storage medium (SD card, CF card, memory stick, Hard Disk, SSD, CF Card…) and save them to your Mac. It won’t succeed in every case, but a lot of people were very relieved to find out that it did a pretty good job for them. And even if it fails, it doesn’t make things worse, as it does not alter the memory card.

To use Exif Untrasher, the camera’s memory card must be mounted as a volume on your Mac. When restoring photos from a USB stick or hard drive, this is automatically the case, and when dealing with a memory card you can use your mac’s card reader, an external reader or connect the camera to the Mac via USB (in case it supports the “Mass Storage Protocol”).

↓ 24 – Recuva Data Disc Recovery | Free / Paid | Windows

Recuva Freeware is a free hard drive recovery software made available by Piriform, it can efficiently scan and recover data from crashed hard disk data in FAT and NTFS format. Besides standard hard disk file recovery data, Recuva can also. Accidentally deleted an important file? Lost files after a computer crash? No problem – Recuva recovers files from your Windows computer, recycle bin, digital camera card, or MP3 player!

• Superior file recovery – Recuva can recover pictures, music, documents, videos, emails or any other file type you’ve lost. And it can recover from any writable media you have: memory cards, external hard drives, USB sticks and more!
• Recovery from damaged disks – Unlike most file recovery tools, Recuva can recover files from damaged or newly formatted drives. Greater flexibility means greater chance of recovery.
• Deep scan for buried files – For those hard to find files, Recuva has an advanced deep scan mode that scours your drives to find any traces of files you have deleted.

The Correct Way On Backing Up Your Files

It is always a good idea to have a portable USB hard disk acting as your backup system, alternatively, cloud storage is getting cheaper and more popular as time goes by. Other than cloud, many mistakes made by the average user is to have 1 copy of the files on a single hard disk. The correct method is to have 2 copies of the identical files on 2 different hard disks.

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18 Free Folder And File Synchronization tools For External Hard Drive Backup

A backup copy is when you have duplicate copies of the same files, one copy in your desktop or laptop, the other in your external hard disk.

01 – Paragon Backup & Recovery Free | Windows

The most powerful free backup solution ever! Take complete control of your PC’s safety. Create a backup of your data today. Based on solid commercial backup and recovery software from Paragon, the new Backup & Recovery 14 Free Edition will give you a rich set of features that you can trust. Backup Features:

• Disk backup to save not only all on-disk information but also the system service structures. It is ideal for making a backup image of an entire hard disk (including GPT-discs) or system partitions to guarantee the operating system’s working capability
• Differential backup to a sector image to only archive changes since the last full sector-based image, thus considerably saving the backup storage space. To restore this kind of backup you will require a full image and one of its differentials
• Backup Capsule – You can place a backup image to a special secured place on the hard disk called the Backup Capsule that has an independent system layout (e.g. a separate partition) and will stay operable should the active file system be damaged. To avoid an accidental removing or unauthorized access of the backup data, this partition is hidden and thus cannot be mounted in the operating system
• Back up separate partitions or entire hard disks to a pVHD (Paragon Virtual Hard Drive) format – a special VHD, optimized for storing backups of virtual and physical machines
• Back up changes since the full, or the latest incremental image. It’s allowed to maintain several incremental chains based on one full image, provided each chain contains changed data of a particular backup object(s). pVHD based incremental imaging works much faster and rock-stable in comparison with the old PBF
• Universal Image Mounter (UIM) – Mount pVHD backup images to browse their contents and retrieve data both, in the program and directly under Windows OS

↓ 02 – FreeFileSync | Windows | Mac | Linux

FreeFileSync is a free Open Source software that helps you synchronize files and synchronize folders for Windows, Linux and macOS. It is designed to save your time setting up and running backup jobs while having nice visual feedback along the way. This is one of my favorite syncing software. Yes, FreeFileSync may be used in business, commercial, and government environments without cost. Which features make FreeFileSync unique?

• Synchronize network shares and local disks
• Synchronize MTP devices (Android, iPhone, tablet, digital camera)
• Synchronize via SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol)
• Cross-platform: Runs on Windows, Linux, macOS

↓ 03 – DirSync Pro | Windows | Mac | Linux | DOS

DirSync Pro is a small, but powerful utility for file and folder synchronization. DirSync Pro can be used to synchronize the content of one or many folders recursively. Use DirSync Pro to easily synchronize files from your desktop PC to your USB-stick (/Externa HD/PDA/Notebook, …). Use this USB-stick (/Externa HD/PDA/Notebook, …) to synchronize files to another desktop PC.

Using DirSync Pro you can make incremental backups. In this way you’ll spare lots of time because you don’t have to copy all the files each time you want to update your backup; only new/modified/larger files would be copied. DirSync Pro provides some preconfigured modes (e.g. Mirror, Backup, Contribute, ?) for common synchronization and backup tasks and some custom modes in which the user could set up the synchronization behavior to meet specific wishes.

Prior to synchronization, DirSync Pro performs an analysis on files and folders and detects any kind of changes to any file/directory in the source. If a file is for example modified, removed, deleted, renamed in the source DirSync Pro synchronizes the destination accordingly. DirSync Pro detects changes to file metadata (e.g. DOS attributes, POSIX file ownerships/group/permissions) and could preserve them to the destination file/directories.

↓ 04 – Areca Backup | Windows | Linux

Areca Backup is an Open Source personal backup solution which is released under the General Public License (GPL) v2. It basically allows you to select a set of files / directories to back-up, choose where and how (as a simple file copy, as a zip archive, …) they will be stored, and configure post-backup actions (like sending backup reports by email or launching custom shell scripts).

• Archives compression (Zip & Zip64 format)
• Archives encryption (AES128 & AES256 encryption algorithms)
• Storage on local hard drive, network drive, USB key, FTP, FTPs (with implicit and explicit SSL / TLS) or SFTP server
• Source file filters (by extension, subdirectory, regular expression, size, date, status, with AND/OR/NOT logical operators)
• Incremental, differential and full backup support
• Support for delta backup (store only modified parts of your files)
• Archives merges : You can merge contiguous archives into one single archive to save storage space.
• As of date recovery : Areca allows you to recover your archives (or single files) as of a specific date.
• Transaction mechanism : All critical processes (such as backups or merges) are transactional. This guarantees your backups’ integrity.
• Backup reports : Areca generates backup reports that can be stored on your disk or sent by email.
• Post backup scripts : Areca can launch shell scripts after backup.
• Files permissions, symbolic links and named pipes can be stored and recovered. (Linux only)

↓ 05 FBackup | Windows

FBackup has a simple interface and guides you through the process of defining a backup job using a friendly wizard. Once a backup job is defined, you can run it manually by pressing the Backup button (or F6), or if you add a scheduler it will run automatically.

FBackup can easily back up sources from local drives (including USB connected drives) to destinations such as USB/Firewire connected devices or mapped network locations. It creates either standard zip files (when using “full backup”), or exact copies of the original sources without any compression (using “mirror backup”). The best thing about this freeware backup software is that it protects your data for free.

• Backup with standard zip compression
• Run actions before/after backup
• FBackup you can back-up your files and folders in the Cloud to your existing Google Drive account.
• Multiple backup destinations

↓ 06 – EaseUS Todo Backup Free | Windows

Free and reliable backup & recovery software enables users to back up system and restore it to original state when disaster happens and performs comprehensive backup types. ToDo Backup supports 16TB high capacity hard drive support for any mission-critical backup plans such as server or mass backup via network.

• Cloud backup solution – easy data backup to Google Drive, OneDrive & Dropbox
• Free and reliable – backup & disaster recovery software for home users
• Easy to install and use – intuitive interface guiding you step-by-step
• One scalable solution – backup, disk clone, SSD migration & restore

↓ 07 – FastCopy | Windows

FastCopy is one of the Fastest Copy/Delete Software on Microsoft Windows. It supports both UNICODE and over MAX_PATH (260 characters) file pathnames, and it automatically selects different methods according to whether Source and DestDir are in the same or different HDD(or SSD).

Reading/Writing are processed with no OS cache, as such other applications do not become slow. It can achieve Reading/Writing performance that is close to device limit. Include/Exclude Filter (UNIX Wildcard style) can be specified. ver3.0 or later, Relative Path can be specified. It runs fast and does not hog resources, because MFC is not used. (Designed using Win32 API and C Runtime only).

↓ 08 – Toucan | Windows [ Portable ]

Toucan is a small utility allowing you to synchronise, backup and secure your data with more options than the built in suite utilities. It is split up into 7 tabs, allowing you to easily find the function that you want. This version features:

• Five synchronisation modes, Copy, Mirror, Equalise, Move and Clean. These can be combined with a variety of file checks such as File Size, Modified Time and a File Header Check to minimise the amount of copying needed.
• Backup and restore in industry standard Zip, 7-Zip and GZip files, with support for complete backups, updating existing backups and differential backups, as well as restoring files from an archive. Automatic testing of created archives is also supported as is password protection.
• AES-256 encryption using ccrypt.
• A complete command line system allowing you to create new jobs and run existing ones from the command prompt or a batch file.
• A Rules system that allows you to easily exclude files based on their name, a regular expression, their modified date or file size.
• An advanced scripting system using the Lua programming language that allows complex scripts to be created, anything from a backup script that automatically uploads new backups to a script that synchronizes your files to a USB drive and then encrypts the sensitive files in case of loss.
• A large collection of in-built Variables for basic functions such as the date and time or more complex variables that point to the drives label or documents directory. You can also define your own as shortcuts to paths on your USB drive or your PC.
• Many other features such as support for the new Windows 7 taskbar, full drag and drop support and translations to many languages.

↓ 09 – Personal Backup | Windows

Personal Backup is a program for saving personal data to any destination folder. This folder may be located on a local fixed or removable drive, on a Windows network server or on an FTP server. The 32-bit version runs under Windows 7, 8 and 10 (32- & 64-bit), Windows Vista, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003/2008(R2)/2012(R2), the 64-bit only under Windows 7,8 and 10 (64-bit) and Windows Server 2008(R2)/2012(R2).

At the destination folder the original drives (C:, D:, etc.) appear as subdirectories named LwC, LwD, etc. The original directory structure remains unchanged beneath these folders. All files may be compressed in gzip, either in toto or separated by subfolders as zip files. Optionally all data can be AES algorithm-encryption.

↓ 10 – AceBackup | Windows

AceBackup is a powerful freeware tool to create completely secure backups of your data. Store your data on any local storage device, on CD, DVD or on your remote FTP server! With the AceBackup Archive and Backup project types you can create easy, secure and quick backups of your (confidential) data at the highest stage – by request encrypted and thus virtually uncrackable!

• 256 bit encryption – AceBackup has five different encryption algorithms to protect your data against unauthorized access.It can encrypt even the file names.
• Remote FTP backups – A unique feature of AceBackup is the ability to store backup files on FTP servers as well as on any local storage device.
• Scheduled backups – Enter the desired dates in the Scheduler and the program backs up your data at the dates and time selected.
• Integrated zip compression – You can back up files with without compression or you can select the highest possible compression level to keep backups as small as possible.
• Flexible source selection – Apply filter to exclude defined file name extensions. Or define a filter to only back up files containing the selected file name extension.

↓ 11 – SyncBackFree | Windows

SyncBackFree is the best Windows backup and synchronization program on the planet with great features and benefits at no cost. Backup Software that is free for personal, educational, charity, government, and commercial use. It comes with no Ads, Viruses, Spyware, Trojans, Nags or registration. 100% Free.

• EncryptOnClick – Military grade 256 bit encryption.
• DeleteOnClick – Securely delete data in one click and the data becomes unrecoverable.

12 – Synchredible | Windows

Synchronize Your Folders and Drives In A Quick and Easy Way. Whether it’s an individual file or an entire drive – Synchredible will synchronize, copy and save them for you. A software wizard will assist you to determine jobs that are either pre-scheduled or to be done through a USB connection. This way, you can keep your files in sync – automatically!

Over the years, our state-of-the-art technology in Synchredible has made copying files easy. It also makes matching your files a simple task while it automatically detects changes and synchronizes the most recently edited files safely and reliably! Thanks to its advanced system for identifying similar files, Synchredible saves you time – unedited files may be skipped if desired. This way, large folders are synchronized in seconds!

↓ 13 – SyncFolders | Windows

SyncFolders helps you to synchronize the contents of two folders, including any subfolders. The folders may be on different disk drives, on the network, or storage devices attached to the USB port, including external hard disk drives, flash drives, and any other type of USB storage device. The program allows you to easily copy new and updated files and folders in either or both directions. SyncFolders is a very useful tool for backup and synchronization purposes.

SyncFolders runs on all Windows versions from Windows XP and higher and you are free to use SyncFolders for any purpose. SyncFolders has a clean installer and does not contain any spyware and will not install unwanted programs.

↓ 14 – Ultracopier | Windows

Ultracopier is free and open source software licensed under GPL3 that acts as a replacement for files copy dialogs. Main features include: play/pause, speed limitation, on-error resume, error/collision management.

Ultracopier is faster than most default system tools. It provides many advanced features such as: start/resume the copy process, speed limitation, search through the copy list.

• High performance and control – Ultracopier is faster than most default system tools. It provides many advanced features such as: start/resume the copy process, speed limitation, search through the copy list ..
• Error and collision management Error and collision management – Ultracopier predicts internal and external errors. It results in detailed information dialogs which allow you to pick up the best solution (eg. always overwrite, overwrite if newer, …).

↓ 15 – TeraCopy | Windows | macOS

Copy your files faster and more securely. TeraCopy is a nifty piece of freeware that improves the Windows copy/move function and adds useful extras like checksum calculation and permanent delete. In case of a copy error TeraCopy will try to recover. If unable to recover in the worst case scenario it will simply skip the problematic file, not terminating the entire transfer. It can also wait for network or device reconnection.

TeraCopy can verify files after they have been copied to ensure that they are identical. This is done by comparing hashes of source and target files. Supported algorithms: CRC32, MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256, SHA-512, Panama, Tiger, RipeMD, Whirlpool and xxHash.

↓ 16 – Copy Handler | Windows

Copy Handler program is a small tool designed for copy/move files and folders between different storage media. Currently it works only in Windows systems, however in the future more platforms should be supported. Copy Handler provides many advanced options like task queuing; filtering files according to specific criteria; pausing and resuming copying files operations and changing the copying parameters on the fly. With Copy Handler the speed of your copy and transfer process is also increased.

• Full-control over the copying or moving process by pause, resume, restart and cancel features.
• Copy files faster than standard Windows copying.
• Automatically resume all unfinished operations on system start.
• System integration provides additional commands to context menus of folders.

↓ 17 – Directory Compare | Windows

Directory Compare is a utility to help you keeping copies of your important directories (documents, programs under development and so on) in a backup hard disk or any other storage system (like 100Mb diskettes), as well as in a compressed .zip file (only in version 2.53). The backup may be made automatically (in unattended mode) or by using a friendly user interface.

↓ 18 – PureSync Personal | Windows

PureSync is a professional file backup and synchronization software, that can automatically keep a backup of your important files, import files from your digital camera and synchronize the contents of multiple folders, but not from “Windows Mobile” devices and no webDAV-folder, as Allway Sync or GoodSync does. No portable app.

The program offers a step-by-step wizard to configure your backup and synchronization tasks and set advanced options like file exclusions, conflicts management, compare options and more. You can choose to run the backups manually as needed or automatically on a regular schedule. The program can also synchronize your files automatically when it detects that they have been modified, or when a specific device (e.g a USB drive) is connected or a certain folder is found. 4 languages: english, german, italian, norwegian.